ABSTRACT FILIZ, SELCUK. Evaluating the Potential Use of Highloft Nonwoven Fabrics for Rain Gutter Applications. (Under the direction of Dr. Behnam Pourdeyhimi and Dr. William Oxenham) The behavior of fluid flow is an important criterion for nonwoven fabric design and in their applications such as filtration, insulation, geotextiles, geomembranes etc. Highloft nonwoven fabrics are thick, highly porous and bulky, unlike other nonwoven materials. As a result of their structure, these fabrics exhibit both transplanar and in-plane flow capability. This study is exploring the potential application and utilization of highloft fabrics in rain gutters instead of “costly” alternatives such as gutter guards, screens etc. For this study, a new testing device was developed to examine the volumetric flow rate of water through, and volumetric flow efficiency, of different types of highloft fabrics under different conditions. The testing device was named “Rain Machine” since its purpose was to simulate rainfall effect on a particular size of roof and rain gutter. Also by making a minor modification to the NCRC GATS Absorbency Test System, the drainage time and conditions of the fabrics were examined. In this study, the experimental work is carried out by focusing on the macrostructure of the highloft nonwovens rather than the microstructure. In addition to this, two different kinds of foam material were utilized to determine whether there is any improvement of the volumetric flow rate or not. It was visually found that no microorganism activity occurred by the end of the three-week continuous testing, but structural changes such as loss of loft was significant. A statistical approach to experimental design and analysis of these research findings was necessary to draw meaningful conclusions from the data obtained. ANOVA statistical method was used to analyze the experimental data and multiple comparisons carried out using Tukey’s pairwise comparison method. From these analyses, the flow rates for the unsaturated fabrics were found to be less than that of saturated. However, using different kinds of foam materials did not affect the flow rate significantly. The data for black foam material, which had 20 pores per inch, showed a practical difference, but no statistically significant difference due to gravitational forces which caused the fabric to clog the drain spout and made flow of water harder. The data for yellow foam material, which had 90 pores per inch, showed that its water flow rate was the lowest, however, results were not significantly different than that of black foam material. EVALUATING THE POTENTIAL USE OF HIGHLOFT NONWOVEN FABRICS FOR RAIN GUTTER APPLICATIONS by SELCUK FILIZ A Thesis submitted to Graduate Faculty of North Carolina State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science DEPARTMENT OF TEXTILE & APPAREL, TECHNOLOGY & MANAGEMENT RALEIGH 2003 APPROVED BY: _____________________________ ____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ Co-Chairman of Advisory Committee Co-Chairman of Advisory Committee ii Dedicated to My father, mother and sister in Turkey My wife Tara Filiz and her family iii BIOGRAPHY The author, Selcuk Filiz was born in Istanbul, Turkey on September 12, 1975. After attending three different high schools, he graduated from Akasya High School in Istanbul in May, 1993. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Textile Engineering from University of Uludag, Bursa, Turkey in July 1999. Following his graduation, he joined the Turkish Navy and completed his military service in July, 2001. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author wishes to express his sincere appreciation to Drs. Behnam Pourdeyhimi and William Oxenham, Co-Chairmen of his advisory committee, for their undivided attention and professional guidance throughout the period of his research work. Appreciation is also extended to the members of his advisory committee, Dr(s) Pamela Banks-Lee and Timothy G. Clapp, for their cooperation and remarkable help. The author appreciates useful help and discussions with Mr. Patrick Steagall and Dr. Walter J. Chappas. The author acknowledges the support of the College of Textiles, North Carolina State University and the Nonwovens Cooperative Research Center (NCRC), in providing funds to carry out this project. The author is grateful Leggett & Platt Inc. for providing the samples used in this project. The author would also like to thank Mr. Laurence R. DuFour for the construction of instrumentation and test apparatus and Mr. Jeffrey D. Krauss for use of the Pilot Laboratory facilities. Finally, the author wishes to express his deepest gratitude and love to God, his father, mother and sister for their great support and their loyalty. Also, the author expresses his deepest love for his wife Mrs. Tara Filiz and for her family members for their support and sacrifice throughout the period of his graduate studies. v TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES………………………………………………………………. viii LIST OF FIGURES……………………………………………………………… ix 1. INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………... 1 2. LITERATURE REVIEW…………………………………………………… 3 2.1. Fluid Flow Through Porous Structures………………………………… 3 2.1.1. Capillary Model Theory…………………………………………. 5 2.1.2. Hydraulic Radius Theory………………………………………… 8 2.1.3. The Drag Theory………………………………………………… 10 2.1.4. Porosity………………………………………………………….. 15 2.1.5. Turtuosity………………………………………………………… 18 2.1.6. Volume Averaged Flow Theory…………………………………. 20 2.1.7. Permeability Of Multiple Layered Nonwovens………………….. 22 2.2. Patent Literature………………………………………………………… 25 2.2.1. Downspout Strainer Device……………………………………… 25 2.2.2. Hinged Gutter Guard……………………………………………… 26 2.2.3. Rain Gutter with Filter…………………………………………… 27 2.2.4. Open Through Filler……………………………………………… 27 2.2.5. Nonwoven Fiber Screen For Rain Gutters……………………….. 28 2.2.6. Rain Gutter Shield With Nylon-Polyester Nonwoven Fabric……. 29 2.3. Commercial Applications Of Patent Literature………………………….. 32 2.3.1. Flow Free Gutter Protection System……………………………… 32 2.3.2. Gutter Helmet®……………………………………………………. 32 2.3.3. Gutter Protech™…………………………………………………… 33 2.3.4. Waterfall™ Gutter Guard………………………………………….. 34 3. APPROACH…………………………………………………………………... 35 3.1. Heavy Rainfall Climatology for North Carolina State…………………… 35 3.2. Test Apparatus Design Considerations…………………………………... 39 vi 4. EXPERIMENTAL METHODS………………………………………………. 42 4.1. General Information about Highloft Nonwoven Fabrics………………… 42 4.1.1. Definition of Highloft……………………………………………... 42 4.1.2. Historical Overview of Highloft Nonwovens……………………... 42 4.1.3. Highloft Nonwoven Manufacturing……………………………….. 43 4.2. Materials…………………………………………………………….……. 50 4.2.1. Fabric Materials…………………………………………………… 50 4.2.1.1. Fabric Samples used in Volumetric Flow Rate Tests……... 50 4.2.1.2. Fabric samples used in Water Drainage Tests…………….. 52 4.2.2. Foam Materials……………………………………………………. 53 4.3. Measurement of Volumetric Flow Rate And Efficiency………………… 53 4.3.1. Test Apparatus…………………………………………………….. 53 4.3.1.1. Electrical components…………………………………….. 54 4.3.1.2. Mechanical components…………………………………... 55 4.3.2. Test Procedure…………………………………………………….. 59 4.4. Measurement of Overflow………………………………………………. 62 4.4.1. Test Apparatus…………………………………………………….. 62 4.4.2. Test Procedure…………………………………………………….. 62 4.5. Measurement ff Water Drainage………………………….…………….. 62 4.5.1. Test Apparatus…………………………………………………….. 62 4.5.2. Test Procedure…………………………………………………….. 64 5. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION……………………………………………… 66 5.1. Volumetric Flow Rate and Efficiency…………………………………….. 66 5.1.1. Effect of Discharge Rate…………………………………………… 66 5.1.2. Effect of Sample Density…………………………………………... 68 5.1.3. Effect of Foam Material Type……………………………… ……... 76 5.2. Overflow Behavior……………………………………………………….. 85 5.2.1. Discharge Rate…………………………………………………….. 85 5.2.2. Effect of Fabric Density and Foam Material Type………………... 89 5.3. Drainage Capacity and Time..…………………………………………….. 91 5.3.1. Effect of Fabric Density and of foam Material Type ...…………… 91 5.4. Statistical Analysis……………………………………………………….. 96 vii 6. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS…………………………… 100 REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………… 103 APPENDICES……………………………………………………………………. 106 viii LIST OF TABLES Table 1 Some of Flood Events occurred in Wake County………………………… 38 Table 2 Carding and Garneting comparison………………………………………. 46 Table 3 The Characteristics of Test Samples……………………………………… 50 Table 4 Measured characteristics of samples……………………………………… 52 Table 5 Sample characteristics used in Drainage Tests…………………………… 52 Table 6 Control flow without any type of highloft or foam material……………… 67 Table 7 Theoretical flow…………………………………………………………… 67 Table 8 Rain Machine Efficiencies without samples or foam materials………….. 68 Table 9 Flow Rate of different samples at 4.73 liters/min………………………… 69 Table 10 Flow Rate of different samples at 5.68 liters/min……………………….. 69 Table 11 Flow Rate of different samples at 6.63 liters/min……………………….. 69 Table 12 Overall Test Data for Vol. Flow Rate……………………………………. 77 Table 13 Simulated Rainfall Intensity by using different discharge rates…………. 86 Table 14 Overflow conditions (only fabric samples were used)…………………... 87 Table 15 Overflow conditions (yellow foam material was used)………………….. 87 Table 16 Overflow conditions (black foam material was used)…………………… 88 Table 17 Drainage Capacity (grams) of samples with/without foam materials……. 91 Table 18 ANOVA TEST RESULTS ……………………………………………… 97 ix LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 The needle punch fabric and its predicted model……………………… 11 Figure